Are there stars that wouldn't look white to the naked eye?

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I have a small youtube channel in wich I make videos about topics relating science and things I find interesting. The topic I'm working on recently is on the color of the sun. What I tought at the start was going to be an easy topic to tackle has turn into a something a little more complex and with more nuances.



Now I will make some statements that I have infer from my little investigation feel free to challenge any so I can get to the bottom of this.



  • All stars emit light in the full Light spectrum.


  • Depending on the temperature of the star, it will emit certain wavelengths of light much more than others.


  • We perceive the mixture of many colors as white (or more precisely the mixture of green, blue and red light in roughly equal amounts).


Well, certainly our sun does not emit equal amount of red light than of blue or green. But seen from the space the sun appears as white, even though it emits a little more green light than any other wavelength. So I assume there is certain threshold in which our eyes does not perceive the difference so they see just white.



Now, how often are stars like this? If we look at any other star in the space and with the naked eye (assuming we wouldn't mind burning our retina) will we just see white light? Have some stars in the universe a blackbody curve skewed enough so we would be able to see them in any particular color?






visible-light astronomy stars







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  • Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
    – David Z♦
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
    – Martin Beckett
    54 mins ago















up vote
1
down vote

favorite












I have a small youtube channel in wich I make videos about topics relating science and things I find interesting. The topic I'm working on recently is on the color of the sun. What I tought at the start was going to be an easy topic to tackle has turn into a something a little more complex and with more nuances.



Now I will make some statements that I have infer from my little investigation feel free to challenge any so I can get to the bottom of this.



  • All stars emit light in the full Light spectrum.


  • Depending on the temperature of the star, it will emit certain wavelengths of light much more than others.


  • We perceive the mixture of many colors as white (or more precisely the mixture of green, blue and red light in roughly equal amounts).


Well, certainly our sun does not emit equal amount of red light than of blue or green. But seen from the space the sun appears as white, even though it emits a little more green light than any other wavelength. So I assume there is certain threshold in which our eyes does not perceive the difference so they see just white.



Now, how often are stars like this? If we look at any other star in the space and with the naked eye (assuming we wouldn't mind burning our retina) will we just see white light? Have some stars in the universe a blackbody curve skewed enough so we would be able to see them in any particular color?






visible-light astronomy stars







share|cite|improve this question









New contributor




Claudio Castro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.



















  • Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
    – David Z♦
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
    – Martin Beckett
    54 mins ago













up vote
1
down vote

favorite









up vote
1
down vote

favorite











I have a small youtube channel in wich I make videos about topics relating science and things I find interesting. The topic I'm working on recently is on the color of the sun. What I tought at the start was going to be an easy topic to tackle has turn into a something a little more complex and with more nuances.



Now I will make some statements that I have infer from my little investigation feel free to challenge any so I can get to the bottom of this.



  • All stars emit light in the full Light spectrum.


  • Depending on the temperature of the star, it will emit certain wavelengths of light much more than others.


  • We perceive the mixture of many colors as white (or more precisely the mixture of green, blue and red light in roughly equal amounts).


Well, certainly our sun does not emit equal amount of red light than of blue or green. But seen from the space the sun appears as white, even though it emits a little more green light than any other wavelength. So I assume there is certain threshold in which our eyes does not perceive the difference so they see just white.



Now, how often are stars like this? If we look at any other star in the space and with the naked eye (assuming we wouldn't mind burning our retina) will we just see white light? Have some stars in the universe a blackbody curve skewed enough so we would be able to see them in any particular color?






visible-light astronomy stars







share|cite|improve this question









New contributor




Claudio Castro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











I have a small youtube channel in wich I make videos about topics relating science and things I find interesting. The topic I'm working on recently is on the color of the sun. What I tought at the start was going to be an easy topic to tackle has turn into a something a little more complex and with more nuances.



Now I will make some statements that I have infer from my little investigation feel free to challenge any so I can get to the bottom of this.



  • All stars emit light in the full Light spectrum.


  • Depending on the temperature of the star, it will emit certain wavelengths of light much more than others.


  • We perceive the mixture of many colors as white (or more precisely the mixture of green, blue and red light in roughly equal amounts).


Well, certainly our sun does not emit equal amount of red light than of blue or green. But seen from the space the sun appears as white, even though it emits a little more green light than any other wavelength. So I assume there is certain threshold in which our eyes does not perceive the difference so they see just white.



Now, how often are stars like this? If we look at any other star in the space and with the naked eye (assuming we wouldn't mind burning our retina) will we just see white light? Have some stars in the universe a blackbody curve skewed enough so we would be able to see them in any particular color?






visible-light astronomy stars




visible-light astronomy stars






share|cite|improve this question









New contributor




Claudio Castro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|cite|improve this question









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Claudio Castro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









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edited 1 hour ago









David Z♦

62.2k23135251




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asked 1 hour ago









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New contributor




Claudio Castro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Claudio Castro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Claudio Castro is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











  • Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
    – David Z♦
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
    – Martin Beckett
    54 mins ago

















  • Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
    – David Z♦
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
    – Martin Beckett
    54 mins ago
















Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
– David Z♦
1 hour ago




Hi Claudio, and welcome to the site! We have some related questions including this, this, and this.
– David Z♦
1 hour ago




1




1




Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
– Martin Beckett
54 mins ago





Some of the brightest stars have visible colours. Both in Orion, Betelgeuse is red(ish) and Rigel is blue(ish) to the naked eye in good conditions.
– Martin Beckett
54 mins ago











2 Answers
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The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.



Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.






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    1
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    There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.



    In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.






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      2 Answers
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      2 Answers
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      The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.



      Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.






      share|cite|improve this answer
























        up vote
        2
        down vote













        The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.



        Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.






        share|cite|improve this answer






















          up vote
          2
          down vote










          up vote
          2
          down vote









          The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.



          Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.






          share|cite|improve this answer












          The difficulty of seeing star's colours is that our colour vision isn't sensitive to low light - at night we are mostly monochromatic.



          Having said that, some of the brightest stars have enough light to show colours. If you look in Orion the star Betelgeuse (top left) looks red and Rigel (low right) looks blue(ish) in good conditions.







          share|cite|improve this answer












          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer










          answered 50 mins ago









          Martin Beckett

          28.2k55282




          28.2k55282




















              up vote
              1
              down vote













              There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.



              In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.






              share|cite|improve this answer
























                up vote
                1
                down vote













                There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.



                In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.






                share|cite|improve this answer






















                  up vote
                  1
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  1
                  down vote









                  There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.



                  In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.






                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  There are stars that are visibly not white even from Earth. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (except the sun), has a perceivable blue tint, and Betelgeuse is noticeably red. That's just the beginning of answering your question though.



                  In general, hotter stars are more blue and cooler stars are more red. The sun is "just right" in its temperature to emit what is a very white spectrum. Sirius, mentioned above, is a much hotter star than the sun, and Betelgeuse is cooler. In fact, most of the stars in the galaxy are "very cool" (still thousands of degrees) small stars that would appear very red if you could see them. However, they're also quite faint, so they can't be seen by the naked eye from very far away and that's why the naked eye night sky is not dominated by them.







                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer










                  answered 52 mins ago









                  Joshua

                  4,01522355




                  4,01522355




















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